Compendium of Heroes and Villains
by Maddog24
Summary: A collection of stories about heroes and villains from a fantasy realm.  The stories may contain cliff hangers.  Most will tie in together in the end.


The day started normal for John as he woke up in the Dragon's Inn and after dressing in his normal clothes, walked down the stairs to eat breakfast. He found a table and while sitting down called for the bar maid to come over.

**"Morn sir" **said the bar maiden as she walked over to his table. She had a small tray with two empty mugs on it. **"What can I get for thee?" **she asked

John looked at the wench. **"I will take a roast hog and a pint of ale," **he said knowing he had a long travel ahead of him. The woman nods and hurries off to the kitchen.

The bar maid exited the kitchen and walked quickly up to him placing a pint of ale on the table. **"Thy food shall be ready soon, is there anything else I may get thee?" **she asked.

**"No nothing now"** he said picking up the drink and taking a hearty chug.** "This is fine," **he said as the maid turned and walked over to a table to pick up the mugs. John looked around the room at the few people who were in the inn.

In the far corner was a man with a dark hooded cloak covering his face. John thought he knew him from his days with the thieves' guild but starring at him long enough to know for sure was just asking for trouble.

The group of men at the large table, near the center of the room was clearly adventures; no one comes in to eat food in such a large group dress ready for combat. He chuckles to himself looking at the man with a religious symbol. _What god is that? _He thinks but isn't very familiar with the other gods and goddesses people worship. Looking at the two large men, he could tell one was also religious as he had the same symbol on his shield The other much larger man was crude and barbaric, the mess he made with his food had the bar maid working hard to keep the floor clean. The other two men of the group were much smaller. The first was very thin, dressed in green armor with a bow, a closer look reveled he had pointed ears, he must be an elf. The other was one much smaller. The man looked no bigger than a woman; in fact he had seen women who were larger. With his red robe covering his very small frame he stuck out more than the rest of the group.

The other two men were locals who had just come in to eat. Victor was the town blacksmith, a large man who was rumored to have been in the Kings guard before a wound caused his limp. The other was the town bard. At night he would tell stories and sing songs about some of the greatest warriors the land has known with tons of people around him but in the morn he would sit in the tavern alone eating a large meal before turning in to sleep.

At about the same time as John had finished scanning the room, the bar maid returned with his roast hog. John thanked the wench and started to eat as she filled up his mug. As he ate he zoned into the conversation the large group was deeply involved in.

the large man with the shield acted like he was in charge. The rests were fallowing him. He spoke, **"we have the map and this point here is where we will find the village that has asked for our help" **The group talked about how the village was attacked by an army of solders from a new warlord bend on world domination and this group was about to march down there and make a difference. John had heard that too many times. He glanced over at the group again. They don't have what it takes he thought as he turned back to his food and finished eating that. The fact was he had seen many groups as of late come to town with hope of grandeur only to have that hope squashed with they are mortally wounded in battle.

When he finished eating, John walked upstairs. He loaded his bag with all his belonging than started to put on his leather Armor. This process was lengthy as armor was not the easiest clothing to move around in but leather was one of the lightest. After the armor was on, he pulled his hooded cloak over it and with bag in hand walked down the stairs to the stables.

He entered the stables and walked over to his black warhorse Thief. Thief was a large stallion that was trained to allow its rider to fight while on it's back as well as ride into battles without being skittish. John paid the stable boy two pieces of gold for keeping Thief feed and watered and saddled up when he was ready to ride. Taking his horse by the reigns John led him outside and mounted him to ride out of town.

He rode for three hours down a dusky road. Travelers passed by him going in the opposite direction but no one had stopped to bother him. That was partly because he was a large man and partly because he didn't look like he wanted to be bothered.

After the third hour John stopped to let the horse graze and to relax. He had to travel into a wooded area for the last three hours before reaching the group head quarters and getting there would not be easy as he needed to pass known goblin hideouts.

After the horse looked refreshed, John mounted it again and directed Thief to the wood covered path leading into the forest. He had traveled for an hour and a half before slowing down. He felt like he was being watched and started to look around. There in the woods were several yellow glowing eyes. They were well hidden but John was trained in spotting things like this. He wasn't sure how many there were but he knew they were just waiting for a chance to attack. Slowly taking his bow off the side of Thief he strung it while he rode.

Notching an arrow he took aim at one of the yellow eyes and shot. The arrow flew swift and true splitting the air on its flight before sinking into the skull of it's target with a loud *thoot*sound and the creature fell dead. Not even a second after his shot, short green skinned creatures with large ears and yellow teeth and eyes emerged from hiding. They were on all sides of John.

He notched a new arrow and counted eleven. Letting his arrow fly as he dropped the bow and removed his long sword from its sheath. The arrow had struck its target in the throat and the creatures' scream went quiet as it fell to the ground dead. Thief reared up in attack mode as the remaining ten moved in closer. John readied his sword and prepared for the attack, knowing he might be in trouble. The creatures charged.


End file.
